Death and Defeat
by Elric-Chan
Summary: Defeat is worse than death. Naruto couldn't live with being defeated; couldn't live with himself for losing Sasuke. And so he is driven to get him back, no matter what. And it all started with defeat. Onesided SasuNaru


**Disclaimer: Sasuke and Naruto are not mine, of course.**

**I got this idea from looking through a book of "Quotable Quotes" at my aunt's house, and I saw the one below. -shakes head sadly- And I got SasuNaru from that.**

**Please enjoy.**

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_Defeat is worse than death because you have to live with defeat. -Bill Musselman_

It started with defeat.

Naruto had not been able to make Sasuke stay. And that was defeat. It was, in his eyes, something unforgivable.

Something he had to atone for. Even if it meant he had to die for it.

_**DEATH AND DEFEAT**_

It was almost too good to be true when Sasuke strode back onto the outskirts of Konoha, a challenging smirk settled on what was left of his almost expressionless face.

"Where... have you been?" Naruto demanded, his heart pounding irrationally fast. By chance, he had seen the lone figure walking on the horizon, and he was at the village gates before he knew why. Now he stood less than ten feet from Sasuke, his feet braced apart and his hands balled into fists.

"Here and there."

Naruto cried out with a feral snarl; he was furious with Sasuke... and yet couldn't deny, even to himself, that adrenaline was pulsing throught every inch of his body at the mere sight of him.

"What are you planning?" he shouted at Sasuke, watching in disdain as he saw the flash and heard the clash of metal on metal as a katana was drawn.

"I can't really say I know."

Naruto drew his kunai in fury, hurling it at Sasuke without a thought; he knew it was in vain.

With an inhumanly quick flash of his katana, Sasuke had struck the kunai out of his way, and he hadn't even taken a step forward. Naruto was already panting and anxious, more from his shock than from physical strain, but he was enraged at Sasuke.

"Why did you come back?" He was losing control of his resolve.

"Have I?" Sasuke said, and Naruto was sure he wouldn't have caught the mocking edge if he hadn't known Sasuke's voice so well. "Did I ever really leave this place?"

"No..." Naruto said, building on the words that Sasuke had given a very different meaning to. "You've never really left... not when we've all been here this whole time waiting for you to come back!"

"That's a shame. You shouldn't waste all that feeling on me."

"Sasuke!" Naruto said, loudly and clearly, as though he were making a declaration. "You got away from me before, but I won't let you get away this time!"

Sasuke lazily twitched his katana, as if to remind Naruto that it was still there.

"We'll see about that... loudmouth."

"Always with the name-calling, Sasuke," Naruto said, abandoning his pretense with a smile, and drew another kunai. "You haven't changed as much as I'd thought."

"And you haven't changed either, _just_ like I thought," Sasuke said, raising his katana and smirking back at Naruto. "Dobe."

Naruto flung himself at Sasuke with another cry, so much that it startled Sasuke. So unorthodox... why was he so foolishly coming straight on?

Only when he felt hands tugging at the back of his kimono did he turn in haste from Naruto; _how_ had he managed to make doppelgangers already?

He slashed at it without remorse, watching as it dissolved into smoke, and he turned back to Naruto as two more leapt upon him.

"You _have_ gotten better."

"I have, Sasuke!" Naruto said as he sprang, and Sasuke dodged his kunai with surprising grace. "All this time, so I could bring you home!"

Kunai and katana clashed as they came face-to-face, and for one glorious moment, Naruto reveled at being so close to his former teammate again, close enough to see how much he had changed, and how much was still the same.

His eyes were still as black as the darkest night, still cold and mocking; his face was still as ridculously handsome as it had always been, although now perhaps with a bit less expression; his hair still haphazard, and it had lost some of the silkiness Sakura had loved to run her fingers through. And yet...

"Duckbutt..." Naruto whispered in spite of himself, a smirk forcing itself onto his lips. Sasuke's eyebrows shot up in a pure questioning manner, and Naruto urged hs body forward as he slipped the kunai around in his hand.

But he regretted his hastiness at once, as Sasuke caught his hand with a quiet smirk and laugh, and twisted it. Naruto gave a startled cry of fright as his back lightly met Sasuke's chest.

"Now," Sasuke whispered into Naruto's ear, sending a shiver down the blonde's spine. "I guess I was wrong when I said you'd gotten better."

Their bodies were formed around each others, Naruto noticed with a start. It was remarkable how well his back curved into the contours of Sasuke's chest, and their hips...

He involuntarily shuddered, feeling the cold tip of the katana's blade tracing his side.

"Sasuke, please..." he murmured, trying in vain to turn his head, but Sasuke had him fimly held in place. With a sigh of resignation, he closed his hand around Sasuke's arm.

And for a moment, just a mere moment, Sasuke's resolve slipped. His senses became unfocused for that small fragment of time, when Naruto's touch confused him, and suddenly the blonde had turned.

They fit even better this way, Naruto realized with another shiver.

He stood staring into Sasuke's eyes, the raven's features composed into a careful sneer. Only Naruto would have been able to see the conflict in his eyes, the internal struggle at having his only true friend this close; knowing what had to be done.

And Naruto knew how it had to end.

Gathering what was left of his resignation, he leaned forward and pressed his lips to Sasuke's.

_Damn it, Naruto... you fool..._

And for the second time, Sasuke's focus slipped beyond comprehension. His senses grasped only at the feel of Naruto _actually kissing him_, and the cold handle of the katana in his hand, and Naruto's warmth, and...

Everything crashed as his hand moved forward, sending the katana's blade deep into Naruto's heart.

Blue eyes widened and dimmed before him, and tears pulled themselves from Sasuke's own onyx eyes as he sank to the ground, clutching Naruto's lifeless form in his arms.

It ended with death.

_**OWARI**_

**A/N: Oh, now I'm sad. I wanted to make Naruto shove a kunai in Sasuke's shriveled-up heart so that they could die together... but this is all about _Naruto's _defeat and death, remember?**

**Now please review.**


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